Right now, you can only access designate/cleardesignateenemy through binds, commands, or the touch UI. I suggest that these functions be added to the sensor log so this game component is part of the PDA; when you select a target on the log (regardless of if they're actually targettable or not), you can see their currently marked status, and buttons below allow you to apply or clear this marking.

When I want to select a ship that is near me I open sensor log, click a ship on a list if its in range (list can be arranged by distance, name etc. by clicking on column name) and then I close sensor log - then I've got that ship marked in HUD (position indicators, name, health bar, faction, etc.).

I'm not exacly sure how designate/cleardesignateenemy commands work, I assume it's for more permament selection of a target - does this work in one sector or it stays even if I warp out (or designated ship warps out) from the sector? If it works different than I assumed, please let me know.

In sensor log ship need to be in range to be selected (bold, more prominent letters) and can't if its out of range (faded, less prominent letters) or if ship is not listed. Having a column with checkboxes near every ship that is in range (bold letters) in sensor log could be an alternative when dealing with many targets (there would also appear more position indicators in HUD) to select them from sensor log as long as they are not too close and hostile.

It could be helpful too if selected (designated) ship stays marked even if it gets out of range (letters fade out). As I understand when it happens (marked ship gets out of range) there is no way to select it again which standard commands like "select target in front/select next target/ etc." (please correct me if I'm wrong on it).

So as I understand, if checkbox would be marked for one ship and then it gets back in range (bold letters), position indicators for this ship would appear again, for example as long as this ship is listed in sensor log? If so, I think it could be useful in some missions, maybe even marking could sometimes be done by PDA itself (it would help when enemies are listed in sector, but not in range yet).

Anyway it would not only benefit players that want to target hive ships, but also other players. I think if this feature would be considered, PVP should be taken for consideration too.

/designateenemy and /cleardesignateenemy only changes the target's "perceived" friendliness on the radar (afaik), which will allow mobile and VR pilots to auto-fire on that target. For Hive bots, designating them as enemies is useless, as they are already perceived as threats. Also, the /clear command only removes a forced designation, it doesn't mark as friendly.

The command doesn't change how targetting works for that person, nor should it...

If you cannot "select" out-of-range targets, then obviously that part of my suggestion can be ignored - I thought they were still selectable in the list, even if targetting wouldn't occur.

Thanks Luxen for your answer, I double checked - it's what I described above, I can't select targets from sector list that are out of range (letters fade out and no distance value shown, not to confuse with corvus ships that have faded letters as standard) the same way when I close this list I can't select them using "select" commands - it's the same range.

Now as I undestand that designated enemy is not for hive bots I think it could be useful to have those functions implemented in some way to PDA.

+1

Perhaps also expand this to allow the opposite. Ie - designate friendly for ships that appear as hostile on sensor log. This would be useful in situations like Bractus Armada where the friendly UIT ships are designated as enemy by default. Or for group activites with neutral guild members from opposing factions where being "grouped" isnt an option.